Everyman 8

I haven't written a sleep update in a while.

First of all, I should note that I threw the schedule out the window when I got sick. I think that's the only sensible thing to do. I slept all night and large parts of the day.

When I went back to a polyphasic schedule I felt like I was picking up pretty much where I left off, in terms of adaptation. The first couple days were a bit tougher but not spectacularly so. If I'd had to "start over" I probably would have given up. (For about 10 days I had a mild headache almost constantly. This is a symptom of sleep deprivation.)

My current schedule is core sleep from 11 to 2 AM, then another 1.5 hours from 5:30 to 7. Then nap around 1, and another nap at 5:30. Total of 5.5 hours, which is high, for polyphasic sleep.

The 5:30 nap is problematic; I often have trouble falling asleep. I think that primarily it's just too soon after waking up at 1:30. If I feel especially not sleepy I will push that nap to 8:00 or so, after the kids are in bed. I don't like doing this because it cuts into my time with Rachel. But if I don't get that nap in at all I feel pretty wasted by 11. I was able to sleep better at 5:30 when I was only sleeping half an hour from 6:30 to 7, and napping again at 12, but I was not nearly as alert in the morning (7-12) doing that. All in all the current situation is better.

If you're getting the impression that there is no hard and fast set of rules that says, "if you sleep at these hours you'll be in good shape" then you are coming to the same conclusion I am. There's definitely some trial and error involved.

I rely on my alarm to get me up at 2. Then for 5:30 to 7 I just let my kids wake me up. This means that 90% of the time I get to "sleep in" a bit past 7. But every once in a while they get up at 6:30 or earlier, which sucks. Then I usually put some cartoons on and try to doze a bit.

I still set my alarm for naps but I almost always wake up before it goes off, which I take as a good sign.

Perhaps the worst failure is that it turns out I'm a lazy couch potato and still haven't been to the gym.